Man accused of attempted murder ‘falsely identified’ - defence claims

Kai Nazir was not the man who stabbed Daniel Berryman at the Monkfield Arms on October 28 last year, according to his defence QC, Isabella Forshall.

During her closing statement to the jury at Cambridge Crown Court today (Wednesday), Miss Forshall said although her client accepted his actions caused the death of Chris West outside the pub, the man Daniel Berryman described as stabbing him was not Kai Nazir.

During a police interview on November 8, Mr Berryman described a man with freckles who was wearing a black jacket as being his attacker.

“Mr Berryman gave a meticulous description of the man he says pushed a knife into him and that description is not Kai Nazir,” said Miss Forshall.

She added: “It does even fit with the outfit Mr Nazir was wearing.”

Miss Forshall said the description fitted another man who was in the pub that night, who, she said, was not interviewed by police and whose DNA was not eliminated from the evidence.

She also described the blood on Nazir’s grey top as a single smudge mark, which she suggested was not the linear type of mark which a knife would have made had Nazir put it in his pocket after stabbing Mr Berryman. She said the blood could have been transferred from any number of people in the pub who confronted Nazir after the incident.

The court heard that Daniel Berryman’s blood was not found on the knife.

Miss Forshall said Nazir suffered several injuries which could not be explained by the evidence given by witnesses who admitted they punched and kicked Nazir.

“He made the same terrible mistake that so many men make when they carry a knife – you may use it and if you use it you may cause terrible, dreadful, irreparable damage,” she said.

She went on to describe Nazir as a “stupid, frightened young man” who “lashed out blindly and desperately as he tried to make an attack go away”.

Kai Nazir, 20, of The Crescent, in St Neots, is charged with the murder of Mr West at the Monkfield Arms pub, in Cambourne, on October 28 last year. He also faces counts of attempted murder, and an alternate charge of grievous bodily harm with intent, in relation to Daniel Berryman who suffered a life-threatening stab injury that night. Nazir denies all the charges against him, including a fourth count of having a bladed article.